Alex loves all things seaweed

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks and today is my first midweek day off in over 2 years, so I am doing all the things I want to do.

There were tears on the couch last night. I had just finished the biggest day of catering (Melbourne Cup) and I was relaxing, revelling in the fact that I might not have to do it next year when Alex asked if we could have sushi for dinner because apparently I promised him we could.

I looked in the cupboard and all we had to put in the sushi was tinned tuna (not something I really fancied for dinner) so I told him we could make it tomorrow for school lunch.

'Noooo mum, you promised!', this was when the bottom lipped dropped and a few tears sprang into his eyes.

"Come on mate, I don't think I would of promised making sushi on the day of Melbourne cup?" This seemed to be a reasonable argument from me....but I was mistaken.

More tears poured down his face and I was reminded of the broken promises I gave him a couple of weeks ago when he first asked (oops!)

SO with a 'what a terrible mummy I am.......and we will defiantly make them tomorrow morning before school promise' I think I got off pretty lightly with a few pages of reading from those god awful Pokemon books my boys are loving these days.

Without a word of a lie, we did make sushi rolls this morning and the boys were delighted with their lunch box treats. I was also pretty impressed when I cut up the one they made for me when I sat down for lunch. Although tuna wouldn't be my first choice, it was yummy, tightly packed and fresh so what more could I ask for?


Anyway, back to Alex and seaweed.
I am not to sure when this love of his started but it is something that hasn't disappeared. For his 5th birthday he was adamant that he and his friends would make sushi rolls and whenever he gets the chance he'll nibble on a sheet. In fact when it came to pulling out a sheet of nori paper this morning there were nibble bites in them where Alex happily tells us he helps himself when he is a bit peckish- Oh really!?

Alex was helping me with dinner a week or so ago when he asked if he was allowed to do something different. Me being one to encourage ideas told him that as long as it was tasty I'm sure it would be OK. It was at this stage that he helped himself to my nori supply and started ripping bits off and arranging them on top of the steamed rice I was serving with some fish.

The addition of ripped nori to the rice was a great idea. Max wasn't so keen and opted out but the rest of us enjoyed the earthy taste with our fish and vegetables.
I love that Alex was thinking about flavours and combinations and I loved it even more that he asked if he could try it out on the family meal. If I could just get him to try cooked carrots then I could start him on a whole different food journey but for now I guess I will have to make do with raw carrots and a few more pieces of nori!

Poached eggs by Max

We are at the end of term 3 school holidays here in Sydney. For the past two weeks while the catering side of the business goes into hibernation I have been teaching kids how to cook and we aren't just talking cupcakes!
For most parents, school holidays is a bit of a pain in the behind because sadly our working day is the same as ever and no matter how you dress it up, no boss I know would say 'kids are off school? no worries- take the week off and enjoy!' So, like most parents out there I also need to find something for the young Max to do all day (Alex is still in day care so that takes care of that....for a few more months anyway).

The classes were a great success I am happy to report. Ok, if the truth be known, 9am till 3pm is a LONG day when you have 14 kids all wanting to be master chefs ranging in ages from 6 to 13, but we did it and got a lot of repeat business so that in my books is a huge success.

Max did all the classes and I could see a gradual improvement in knife skills, following directions and confidence in the kitchen. So confident in fact he wanted to cook just about every night. This was all well and good but after 6 hours of teaching with 14 kids I really didn't want to have to guide another child through the kitchen when I finally got home (call me a meanie but I was buggered!).

So this morning, after a couple days rest I asked Max if he wanted to make breakfast for the family.
"Oh yes......but will you be there?' Of course I said, and with that he proceeded to pull out his recipe card on how to poach eggs and got to work.

The concentration was intense, but those English muffins we buttered to perfection!

We found that if you crack the egg quickly into a small bowl first, you were more likely to get a better looking poached egg as the end result

The closer the egg is the to water, the less separation you'll have with the white and yolk....he only made that mistake once and will remember this tip forever (with a bit of luck!)

Ok with all 7 eggs poached, plates clean with not a drop of poaching water, he was eager to sit us down for breakfast

End result? fantastic!! Max did a brilliant job of making poached eggs with ham and tomato on an english muffin. Only one egg had a bit of a separation issue, however after sorting out the problem you'd think these poached eggs were cooked by a seasoned professional. It looks like I am one step closer to getting breakfast in bed. 

Well done Max

Sydney cooking school is open!

To all of my frequent readers I have to apologise for my absence these past few weeks. I received a lovely email from fellow blogger Bryan asking after my existence which I totally appreciate- thank you. I was happy to tell him and now you all that all is well.  I was not sick, at death's door or anything else other than 100% consumed by the opening of our cooking school.

I think I put everyone and everything on hold just so I could get on top of of this new career challenge. Anyhow, I am happy to report we had our opening on Monday night and it was a huge success. We had a wonderful response and interest for classes and dinner parties, which is increasing by the minute.
For opening night we served guests snippets of food we will be teaching, ranging from paella, goat cheese tartlets and Morton Bay bug salad to handmade chocolates and macaroons.

Now things seems to be getting under control, I will be back to blogging, reading my favourite blogs and generally trying to learn as much as I can where food is concerned. A dream would be for fellow bloggers to come and show off their recipes and skills in our new kitchen, sharing the love of food and writing just that little bit more.......stay tuned and if you are in Sydney, please drop on by....

Cooking school practices

I know I have been a little absent this week, it is not through lack of interesting food by any means. As some of you may remember I bought a catering business with another chef at the end of last year. It is all going well and the stress hasn't killed us yet, so we decided to mess with it a little and find a bigger space with the hope of adding on a cooking school.
 To cut a long and stressful story short, we found the bigger space, so big in fact we decided to add on a cafe out the front, cooking school in the middle and catering kitchen in the rear.
Mad you might be thinking?
Absolutely!
With that said, my partner and I have been playing around with food ideas, trying to come up with some interesting classes for the folks of Sydney.
 We will be offering basic cooking classes, specialty classes and also kids' cooking classes but we also wanted to offer something extra- a chef's table for those cooks out there who want a one-on-one personal lesson with a chef. With the Chef's table you can help design your own menu, prepare the meal and then invite 6-8 of your friends to come for dinner and taste your menu. The fun part is you get to go home, pop your glad rags on grab your partner and come out for the dinner you created, leaving the plating and washing up to us. We are excited and can't wait to get the bench tops up and ovens in to get this show on the road!

Just to wet your appetite here are a few images we have been playing around with.
Below is a delicious gravlax of salmon filled with an avocado, dill and wasabi oil filling topped with caviar.....

and we couldn't go past the classic melon and prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella and basil for those warm evenings. Can't you just feel the champagne bubbles tickling your nose! 

I'll keep you up dated on the progress and hopefully have some images of the glamorous new kitchen really soon.